COVID-19 has profoundly affected the lives of many worldwide and has resulted in many organisations implementing shifts to ensure business continuity. Whilst we endure through these challenging times, it is vital to ensure your team are continuing to connect.
But how can we connect as a team when we are not seeing each other? What does this mean for team building?
The MEC team see this as just another pivot we need to make. A global pandemic has changed many things, and this includes how to approach traditional team building to now using virtual methods. Although it is not the same catching up with your colleagues in person, there are so many ways around this. Here are our top five ideas to stay connected.
- Virtual Dinner
This one is simple, yet effective! You can make this a truly fun time by giving your team a theme for cooking such as ‘Meals without a staple because they’re all sold out’ or a cuisine such as Thai or Italian inspired food.
This can make plenty of conversation starters for the entire team and allows you to connect through a video call and no speaking of actual work is needed.
- Playlist collaborations
Everyone listens to music, so maybe it is time to get your team to make a playlist for everyone to listen to a day at a time! This way, your music library will be kept interesting with a variety of musical genres allowing for more conversation between your team.
Perhaps your week could sound something like this:
- Monday: Feel-good pop
- Tuesday: Your favourite podcasts – have different category each week
- Wednesday: Smooth Jazz
- Thursday: Throwback Thursday – do the top hits of a new decade each week
- Friday: RNB Fridays
- Group chats
Now’s a better time than ever to have a team group chat – maybe one separate to speaking specifically about work.
Have one where you can virtually share your days, photos of your pets, a funny picture you have come across on your social media – it’s a good chance to laugh and bond as a team without the added stress or anxiety of speaking about work in the same conversation.
- Entertainment recommendation club
Similar to a traditional book club, however, all forms of entertainment are welcome! Set a book, movie, or television series episode as the entertainment pick of the week. Have you all seen Tiger King?! Set a virtual meeting at the end of each week to discuss it.
Having one team member per week choosing the entertainment piece allows for a new experience for everyone or one person to share their all-time favourites.
- Exercise classes
Finding the motivation to exercise is a little trickier now that our options have become increasingly limited. Get your co-workers together on a video call, choose an online workout and do it together!
You will be surprised how much more productive and harder you might work while exercising when people are doing it with you. It is a great and healthy way to bond and it also gives the team a new way to support each other.
While COVID-19 has forced many of us to adjust to a new way of socialising and working, technology has given us the benefit of still staying close while social distancing. Give these activities a go and your team will certainly notice the difference!